We demonstrate mid-infrared quantum cascade detectors (QCD) operating in the strong light-matter coupling regime. They operate around λ=10μm with a minimum Rabi splitting of 9.3 meV. A simple model based on the usual description of transport in QCDs does not reproduce the polaritonic features in the photo-current spectra. On the contrary, a more refined approach, based on the semi-classical coupled modes theory, is capable to reproduce both optical and electrical spectra with excellent agreement. By correlating absorption/photo-response with the simulations, we demonstrate that - in this system - resonant tunneling from the polaritonic states is the main extraction mechanism. The dark intersubband states are not involved in the process, contrary to what happens in electrically injected polaritonic emitters.
@article{arxiv.2110.08060,
title = {Direct polariton-to-electron tunneling in quantum cascade detectors operating in the strong light-matter coupling regime},
author = {Mathurin Lagrée and Mathieu Jeannin and Grégory Quinchard and Oussama Ouznali and Axel Evirgen and Virginie Trinité and Raffaele Colombelli and Alexandre Delga},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.08060},
year = {2023}
}